Canonical is one of the few that take the security of the various connected devices, colloquially known as the Internet of Things, seriously. They released an OS called Ubuntu Core 18, based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, to the internet back in December which is designed to offer a way not only to secure your IoT devices but to update them as well. All hardware has digitally signed snaps which let you verify the state of it's firmware and software at any time to ensure no one has been mucking about in it. Along with the virtualisation comes a decade of security updates, with patches that can be released to x86, x64 and ARM based hardware simultaneously.

The Inquirer mentions that while most of these patches will be free, there may be some with a small cost associated, which may indicate they will support discontinued products and those with tiny market shares.

"There's loads more to discover about Ubuntu Core 18, which was first made available as a preview in December. As ever, its open source and it's free to download."